Former and present Speakers of PDP-controlled
State Houses of Assembly have applauded a presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, for his outstanding performance in office as state governor.
They gave the applause in Abuja on Monday night during a meeting with Udom.
Emmanuel used the opportunity of the event to advance his quest for the party nomination at the party presidential primary coming up later this month.
The Chairman of Governor Udom’s Campaign Organisation and two-term governor of Benue state, Senator Gabriel Suswam, had introduced the aspirant the serving and former speakers at the well-attended event.
According to Suswam, Udom’s deep knowledge of the economy is his number one qualification for the job
He cited the turn around that Akwa Ibom State had witnessed under Udom within a short period of his stewardship as evidence of the aspirant’s ability and capacity to also turn Nigeria around if, given the opportunity.
“Fix the economy and everything else will fall in place.
“We have not as a country had the good fortunes of having as a leader, someone with a sound and deep knowledge of the economy like Udom Emmanuel has.
“That is why there is no longer a middle class in the country today.
“It is either you are rich or you are poor and Nigeria has been adjudged as the poverty capital of the world.
“More than ever before, we now need a President with a difference who can take this country to a positive level.
“Unlike them, we are not moving this country from top to bottom but we shall be moving it from bottom where they have dropped it to the top, which is the expectation of Nigerians.
“Nigeria needs a president who is creative and we must move away from premodial sentiments because it has not helped us.
“We must now choose a leader with capacity and capability to deliver the goods.
“We must choose a leader with requisite training in financial matters and whose track records speak eloquently for him,” Suswan added.
While speaking at the event, Udom Emmanuel pointed at his training with the leading accounting firm, Pricewaterhouse, and his achievements in the public sector.
The Presidential aspirant further said that while the nation’s economy was contracting and shrinking, that of his state was expanding through his ingenuity of creating money in a cash strapped economy.
He said while industries were relocating from Nigeria, Akwa Ibom had attracted not less than 22 new industries through his creative ideas and innovations that have catapulted the state into the second best Foreign Direct Investment destination, coming only after Lagos.
“While Nigeria is a net importer of foreign goods, Akwa Ibom is presently an exporter of quality products, like made in Nigeria syringes, to overseas countries.
“We are even struggling to meet up with demands, ” he added.
Emmanuel, amid thunderous applause, also said that while Nigeria as a country has been unable to manage an airline, Akwa Ibom’s Ibom Air is one of the best managed airlines in the country today.
Reeling out series of his other achievements as governor, he said if he could do all of these at the sub-national level where he did not control policies and where frustrations abound, he would do more as president of the country.
The governor therefore enjoined the speakers and former speakers to take the message to their colleagues that “help is on the way and all hope is not lost.
“We are coming to rescue and restore the lost glory of this country”, he added. (
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